Mark Jackson has backed out of his plans to call NBA games with his former ESPN colleague Mike Breen. Jackson had intended to call games for the MSG Network, but it’s now being reported that he can’t travel with the Knicks. The New York Post reports that Jackson can’t travel with the team because of a dispute that dates back to his coaching days, when he fired now-Knicks assistant coach David Erman. Apparently, the rift is so great that Knicks president Leon Rose doesn’t want Jackson anywhere near the team.
Jackson would have to pay for his own travel even though he was free to travel without the squad. Jackson turned down that opportunity because his ESPN buyout meant that his work with MSG was unpaid. Wally Szerbiack will take over for Jackson in this situation, mostly serving as Clyde Frazier’s backup. It’s unknown right now whether Jackson will use this to his advantage by taking his broadcasting skills elsewhere. But there’s been a lot of misunderstanding and conjecture about what’s actually going on at MSG in response to the news.
The Knicks, however, are a brutally unimpressive club to begin the season. They are now 5-5 as of this writing, having lost their most recent game to the scorching Celtics. They are now ranked 10th in the conference rankings and dead last in the Atlantic Division.
having two players who can shoot for 20 points, in Jalen Brunson and RJ Barrett, the squad is losing to superteams that emerged in other conference areas during the summer.
This is true even if their defense ranks second in the league in terms of rebounds and points allowed. The issue is that having the third-worst scoring offense in the league with the second-best defense means very little. The squad will play four road games this week against Atlanta, Washington, Charlotte, and Minnesota.
